a THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 1922
"dark splendor." These represent prob- in the net of this European civilisa-
ably as well as any the ecstatic mysti- tin, but it isn't landed yet. And the
" Q cism -that marks his work, a weird net is getting old and tattered. A good
copudof psychoanalysis, the oc- many fish are slipping through the
cult, and the psychology of love, with net of the old European civilization.
"SECOND APRIL" finds expression in "Eel-Grass," "Low- an added dash of the pathological. Like the great whale of Russia. And
(A Review by L. E. W.) Tide," "Inland," "Burial" and "Exiled." The personality of the author who probably even Sardinia. Sardinia
There are but two poems in the vol- writes these books cannot but be int- then. Let it be Sardinia."
In "Second April" (Mitchell Ken- ume which faill below the level of cresting, and it is for the revealing So Sardinia it is. And Mr. Lawrence
nerley), Edna St. Vincent Millay music and intelligible beauty. These fSashes of Lawrence himself, as much finds a country that alternately pleases
achieves that high distinction which are "The Little Hill," which is streaked as for the delightful vignettes and and displeases him. What impresses
cs pioisised by lcr earlir roller- wilh Sunday-School sentiment, and descriptive passages, that his new shim most is the self-consciousness of
"Weeds," which carries the pathetic book, "Sea and Sardinia" (Seltzer), is the people. They take life as a very
tions of poems, "Renascence" and "A fallacy to absurdity. "The Bean- to be recommended. In this brief per- necessary but matter-of-fact process.
Few Figs From Thistles." Here we Stalk" is a delightful example of Miss soal record of the man Lawrence, we Their existence consists of giving
have a tiie poet, ii isiaginaive thiiik- Alisy's asnmated fancy, the nimble can catch a fleeting glimpse of his themselves whole-eartedly to the
or, gifted with insight and ardor, who iseter keeping pace with the rapidity curious personality. Here is the dis- matter at hand, whether it be prepar-
of the action. But to name all the cerning observer of life, never mixing ing a meal or indulging in the riot of
writes with all the intensity of pas- other poems of interest would be to in, always standing a bit aloof, but a street masque. They seem to live
sion, yet with the beautiful restraint repeat thu index. ever sensitive to the people and the entirely in the present tense. For
of a fine self-consciousness. "Second April" is filled with dia- ssiftinsg scenes about him, the most part, Mr. Lawrence finds this
Miss Millay is faithful to the tra- mssonds of verse, exquisitely cut, clear Primarily he is an individualist, and, naivete most refreshing. Only oc-
dition of English song in that most and sparkling. Now that Miss Millay's more strongly than anything else, does casionally does the frankness of the
of her work is rimed and trical, but power, quickened by rapture and in- he resent the fact that, wherever he natives disgust him.
she is successful also when she de_ tensified by suffering, has come to ma- goes, it is not he himself who is recog- Lawrence and the q-b-short for
pends entirely upon the cadences of turity, she has produced a volume of nized but simply an abstraction, an queen-bee, as he calls his wife-travel
free verse. Although she handles the genuine poetry. 'Second April" is a Englishman- "I must insist," he says, via boat, train and bus. The people
sonnet-and she prefers the Italian oook worth keeping. "that I am a single human being, an and events they encounter are describ-
type-with complete ease and famili-i - individual, not a mere chip of 1' Ing- ed in quaint vignettes. He has a man-
arity, the best medism for her peculiar SEA AND SARDINIA hilterra or la Germanie. I am not a ner of throwing in a paragraph or a
genius is the lyric The plasticity of D R. Lawrence chip of any nasty old block. I am page which gives a most lifelike flash
this verse form enables her to adapt myself." of some ordinary event. Mere, for
it perfectly to her subject matter yet (A Review by IL D. S.) It is this strong individualistic instance, is a lively little paragraph:
to keep that characteristic directness A unique figure in contemporary strain, probably, that made him choose "There is an altercation because a
which might be lost in the subtle pat- English letters is D. H. Lawrence. Sardinia as his destination. He dis- man wants to get into the bus with
terns of free verse. Sometimes she Friank IIarris calls him a genius. B. poses of half a dozen possible places two little black pigs, each of which is
is content to use the old ballad meters; L. Meneken regards him as a nonenti- and then decides on this island, "Sar- wrapped in a little sack, with its face
again the tunes are individual. No sy. Of course, he is very likely neither dinia, which is like nowhere. Sardinia, and ears appearing like a flower from
matter which she chooses she stamps !of these. But certainly his eighteen which has no history, no date, no a wrapped bouquet. He is told that
tbem with the mark of her charning volumes contain sufficient literary race, no offering. Let it be Sardinia. lie must pay the fare for each pig as
personality Even when she mentions value to entitle him to a pretty fair They say neither Romans nor Phoen- if it were a Christian. Cristo del
Camelot, Pieria, Demeter, or Perse- hbid for a position in the middle-ground. icians, Greeks or Arabs ever subdued Mondo! A pig, a little pig, and paid
phone, or when she writes of heauty lust where this position is to be re- Sardinia. It lies outside; outside the for as if it were a Christian- He dang-
and Silence and Death, the poems are mains yet to be definitely decided. circuit of civilization. . Sure enough, les the pig-bouquets, one from each
none the less original and her own, The gist of Lawrence is to be found it is Italian now, with its railways and hand, and the little pigs open their
for she brings fresh vision and new- in "The Rainbow" and "Women in its motor omnibuses. But there is an black mouths and squeal with self-
minted phrases which distinguish Love," those two strange books of uncaptured Sardinia still. It lies with- (Continued on Page 8)
her work from that of other singers. I
It has been noted that color is lav-
ishly used in much of modern verse.
Color sense, so little apparent in ansr-
ent poetry, seems almost over-de-
veloped in recent times. Miss \illay,
however, has put away the palette. 10f 10
When she does use a tint it is notF
so much in order to paint a picture
as to emphasize a mood. She is pri-
marily the poet of gesture. Her verses COPYRIGHTED 1921
are extraordinary full of movement.
The foloring stanza from "Alms" isPE
typical of her favorite manner.
"I light the lamp and lay the cloth,
I blow the coals to blaze again;
But it is winter with your love,
The frost is thick upon the pane.
Thistonse of ter early asoki isAy
Fe Figs oiom Thi tes" aa ome of
frank gracelessness and flippant cyni-
ism. In "Se'ond April"her emotions UST IMAGINE EATING ICE-CREAM OUT
have deepened. The very titles of the
two books are indicativ of the change OF YOUR HAND!
that has taken place.
It is exceedingly dificult to ene THE FROST-BITE HAS A DELICIOUS AND
omt for couimet say of the ffty poems'HHAATV'
which compose "Second April," bust!EOA
the "Memorial to D. C. (Vassar Co- SUCCULENT FL AV R WHICH APPEALS
lege, 1918)" cannot be passed without
mention. The memorial is a group of TO THE TRUE LOVER OF SWEETS
six lyrics, full of exquisite tenderness
and poignant grief. The "Epitaph"jChnDe ect bl
and "Elegy" are especially beautiful, The Most Delectable Confection
and this "Prayer to Persephones" I
perhaps the most appealing lyric Miss on the M arket Today
Millay has written.od
A CHOCOLATE - COATED ICE - CREAM BRICK.
"PRAYER TO PERISEPTIONE.
Bes to her, Persephone,
All thethiigs I iight not be; MANUFACTURED BY
Take her head upon your knee. I
She that was so prouad and wild,
Flippant, arrogant and free,
She that had no need of me, -
Is a little lonely child
Lost in Hell,-Persephone,
Take her head upon your knee;
Say to her, 'My dear, ny dear, A& "l
It is not so dreadful here. " a
The title-poem "Song of a Second 416 4TH STREET PHONE 1427
April," might be called a dirge. In-
deed, sorrow and weariness and un-
rest are recrrent throughout the
volume. Her intense love of the sea I